Genetic diversity of parental clones used in breeding programs of sugarcane

Abstract

The present investigation aimed to assess the nature and magnitude of genetic divergence available in the Hybridization Block (E1) and National Hybridization Garden (E2) of ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore and to select the suitable diverse genotypes as parents for further utilization. Principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses were carried out in sixty eight genotypes with nine traits. In E1, the first three principal components explained about 73.45 per cent of the total variability and remaining six components accounted 26.55 per cent of variability. The PC 1 explained a maximum variability of 44.85 per cent followed by PC 2 and PC3. In E2, the first three principal components explained about 76.71 per cent of the total variability among the genotypes and the remaining six components described 23.29 per cent towards the total diversity. Nineteen clones viz., Co 0314,